On the night of Oct. 1, a gunman opened fire from the Mandalay Bay Resort onto a crowd gathered at the Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas. By the nights end, 59 people had died, including the gunman, and 546 were injured. The victims and survivors of the deadliest shooting in recent American history spanned ages and demographics. They included students, police officers, teachers, tribal members and veterans. To share your thoughts with us about how the shooting affected you as a Westerner, please consider using our tip form.
Our readers reflect:
“We need a system to do better background checks. I think the momentum has started to do this. Regretfully, it’s too late for the victims of past shootings.” —Fritz Kindberg
“For those of us that choose to make Las Vegas home, it is comforting to see how we have banded together during and after this terrible tragedy. We are a small island of private land surrounded by an ocean of public land, and we care deeply about our community and the people that make it special. Sadly, it has taken an event like this to help others recognize the same thing.” —Mike Ford
“I know people who were there and escaped. I used to live nearby in Las Vegas, but after Sandy Hook, and so many others, it all gets too relentless to feel. As a country, we do not need to feel distanced and apart from these tragedies; we need to own what is happening.” —Anonymous
In memory of those who died in Las Vegas, from around the West and beyond:
Hannah Lassette Ahlers, Beaumont, California |Heather Lorraine Alvarado, Cedar City, Utah | Dorene Anderson, Anchorage, Alaska | Carrie Rae Barnette, Riverside, California | Jack Reginald Beaton, Bakersfield, California | Stephen Richard Berger, Minnesota | Candice Ryan Bowers, Garden Grove, California | Denise Burditus, West Virginia | Sandra Casey, Redondo Beach, California | Andrea Lee Anna Castilla, Huntington Beach, California | Denise Cohen, Carpinteria, California | Austin William Davis, Riverside, California | Thomas Day Jr., Corona, California | Christiana Duarte, Torrance, California | Stacee Ann Etcheber, Novato, California | Brian S. Fraser, La Palma, California | Keri Galvan, Thousand Oaks, California | Dana Leann Gardner, Grand Terrace, California | Angela C. Gomez, Riverside, California | Rocio Guillen, Eastvale, California | Charleston Hartfield, Las Vegas, Nevada | Christopher Hazencomb, Camarillo, California | Jennifer Topaz Irvine, San Diego, California | Teresa Nicol Kimura, Placentia, California | Jessica Klymchuk, Canada | Carly Anne Kreibaum, Iowa | Rhonda M. LeRocque, Massachusetts | Victor L. Link, Orange County, California | Jordan Mclldoon, Canada | Kelsey Breanne Meadows, Taft, California | Calla-Marie Medig, Canada | James Melton, Tennessee | Patricia Mestas, Menifee, California | Austin Cooper Meyer, Reno, Nevada | Adrian Allan Murfitt, Anchorage, Alaska | Rachael Kathleen Parker, Manhattan Beach, California | Jennifer Parks, Lancaster, California | Carolyn Lee Parsons, Bainbridge Island, Washington | Lisa Marie Patterson, Lomita, California | John Joseph Phippen, Santa Clarita, California | Melissa V. Ramirez, Los Angeles, California | Jordyn N. Rivera, La Verne, California | Quinton Robbins, Henderson, Nevada | Cameron Robinson, St. George, Utah | Tara Ann Roe, Canada | Lisa Romero-Muniz, Gallup, New Mexico | Christopher Louis Roybal, Aurora, Colorado | Brett Schwanbeck, Bullhead City, Arizona | Bailey Schweitzer, Bakersfield, California | Laura Anne Shipp, Las Vegas, Nevada | Erick Silva, Las Vegas, Nevada | Susan Smith, Simi Valley, California | Brennan Lee Stewart, Las Vegas, Nevada | Derrick Dean Taylor, Oxnard, California | Neysa C. Tonks, Las Vegas, Nevada | Michelle Vo, Eagle Rock, California | Kurt Allen Von Tillow, Cameron Park, California | William W. Wolfe Jr., Pennsylvania
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